In 1997, environmental education was incorporated as one of five cross-curriculum themes in the Brazilian Curriculum for schools. Notwithstanding this, the status of environmental education in schools is generally marginal The separation between concrete environmental problems experienced by children and environmental education practice generally results in a failure to construct a more sustainable and equitable society. Considering that teachers are important agents in the construction of an emancipatory environmental education concerned with sustainable alternatives, citizenship and social justice, this study focuses on the development of praxis-oriented research grounded by an action research methodology. The action research was developed with 36 primary teachers from four public schools in Ponta Grossa, Parana, Brazil. The goal was to provide teachers with an opportunity to reflect on their practices and to encourage changes regarding the development of their students' critical thinking and emancipatory actions towards environmental problem solving. The analysis of the findings gathered from distinct phases of the research - teachers' planning, taking actions, evaluation and (re)planning - indicated important progress in changing pedagogical practice of environmental education. As a result of the action research, most of the participating teachers were able to move from reductionist conceptions to more complex understandings of environmental problems. The findings endorsed the importance of promoting environmental education connected with real problems experienced by children in terms of developing skills to critically analyse and implement solutions to environmental problems.

This thesis examines the inability of the Brazilian State to accomplish effectively its constitutional duty to deliver elementary education to all children of 7 to 14 years of age. The overall argument in this thesis is that there is a lack of "political will- on the part of the Brazilian State to resolve this problem. The concept of "lack of political will is theorised as "lack of conditions existing in the State enabling it to be an actor in elementary education". The thesis has six chapters. Chapter One introduces the problem, the arguments, and the structure of the thesis, and discusses the theoretical basis of the thesis. Chapter Two tests the arguments against data on the relationship of the State to elementary education in the Vargas Era (1930-1945). Chapter Three tests the arguments against data on the relationship of the State to elementary education during the Redemocratisation Period (1946-1964). Chapter Four compares the arguments with data on the State's relationship to elementary education during the Military Regime (1964-1985). Chapter Five examines the arguments in relation to data on the relationship of the State with elementary education in the period of the New Republic and the Collor Government (1985-1992). Finally, Chapter Six presents the Conclusions and Recommendations of the thesis. The main conclusion of the thesis is that it is possible to create the necessary conditions for the State to function as an actor in elementary education.